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BancTec has rolled out an advanced mortgage servicing platform, geared toward new and existing lenders in need of accelerated and streamlined customer support, with considerable advantages for new users.

On Tuesday the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System released a report detailing the registration of some hundred-thousand loan originators and over 15,000 new branches, with California and Texas accounting for the most.

On Thursday Bankrate and Freddie Mac released reports with varying conclusions about mortgage rates for this week, with the former posting a slight dip in 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and the GSE reporting few changes from last week. Publishing its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac yielded a 4.52 percent with an average 0.7 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, a nominal increase from last week when the same rates lingered at 4.51 percent.

With recent reports signaling a throwback for public officials involved in debt-ceiling negotiations, housing analysts and market watchers worry about the possible fallout for government-backed mortgages in a default scenario come August. If the federal government defaults on its debt, analysts say, still-brittle mortgage markets will splinter as mortgage rates follow spikes in Treasury yields. Concerns continue to grow after a series of breakdowns between Congress and the White House.

On Wednesday the Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly survey, showing jumps in mortgage applications by 15.5 percent and by 23.1 percent in refinances, respectively, from the previous week. According to the survey, mortgage loan application volume went up over 15 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, with a steady increase by 43 percent. According to the survey, mortgage loan application volume went up over 15 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, with a steady increase by 43.9 percent on an unadjusted basis from the week earlier.

On Tuesday the Government Accountability Office added to fears over rising mortgage rates by releasing a new report that casts concern on the role risk retention will play in the markets. A provision in the Dodd-Frank Act obligates the GAO to perform an economic impact analysis, making the report a timely one since it arrives on the heels of outcry from trade and industry associations. It added that mortgage-related provisions in Dodd-Frank would prescribe "tradeoffs" between additional consumer financial protection and a needed expansion in credit supply.

Despite a forward leap by prices, a surge in contract cancellations led to a sudden easing in existing-home sales over June, according to a National Association of Realtors report. Analysts at the trade association placed blame for the lax numbers at the feet of wary lenders and continuing economic uncertainties. According to the report, upward-bound sales across regions like the South and Midwest contrasted with dips in the Northwest and Northeast, alongside a steadily slacking condo sector.

On Monday mortgage giant Freddie Mac published its monthly Economic and Housing Market Outlook, revealing a recovery in the rental sector and diminishing possibilities for a double-dip recession, with home sales expected to rise above the same for last year by as much as 3 to 5 percent. Households continued to feel concern over their finances, delaying action on larger-than-average purchases. Moreover, the rental housing market crept by with only a 15.2 percent pickup over the past year and through the first quarter this year.

On Monday the National Association of Home Builders reported an increasingly sunny outlook among single-family homebuilders, with a Housing Market Index jointly released by Wells Fargo signaling a 13-point rise in homebuilder confidence-an uptick from the three-point plunge in June. In July two of the three indexes saw surges, up from steady declines over May. Current sales conditions went up to 15 from two points-the same as in May-as sales expectations for the next six months jumped by 22 points.

The numbers are in, and New York tops the list of states boasting the highest mortgage closing costs nationwide. The results of the Bankrate, Inc. survey demonstrate New York├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós dubious dominance in closing fees for the second straight year. Other high-cost areas rounding out the top five? Texas, Utah, San Francisco, and Idaho. Nationally, the total cost of origination and title fees has risen since last year by 8.8 percent, to an average cost of $4,070 on a $200,000 mortgage.